Cuppacafe

Just in time to (potentially ) ruin the most important holiday in Ireland, there is a severe shamrock shortage which could seriously impact on the “wearing of the green," according to leading botanist Dr. Declan Doogue of the Royal Irish Academy.

The shamrock was “hit hard” by the severe winter weather and “won’t be easily found” this week, said Doogue, who also stated the national plant was under threat because of modern farming methods.

In its place, bogus shamrock plants are being used, he said, stating that he hoped the shamrock that President Obama would receive from Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen would be the real thing.

Now all we have to do now is eat green bagels and drink green beer.

The O'Perfessor

Some things simply defy explanation...

How ever did that river turn green?

Oh, I see

And then there's this:

"These are not the stormtroopers you are looking for."

Happy St. Paddy's day.

The Perfessor

I didn't think twice about this girl when American Idol started cranked up. Now she's a force. Audibly.

It was Rolling Stones Night, and while Siobhan's semi-goth version of Paint It Black isn't the best vocal, it did emphasize that this girl has power behind her voice that will grow into something we'll all be hearing long after this ninth season of American Idol is over. (Yes, you know it's a goth version because she was wearing a pair of giant black boots someone dug up from ten years ago!!) The scream at the end goes on a measure too long, and is cracked, but that could be her interpretation of the actual song.

This girl has power in her voice.

Let's hope she only uses it for good.

YouTube link

You'll have to forgive the "hometown story" before the song and the judges wallowing around afterwards, but the song itself here is something to listen to.

It plays out exactly as you'd expect, only without the two faced mayor instead of the policeman at the end.

Very Fun, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, we love Jon Stewart (often to unintentionally ignore Stephen Colbert), but we couldn't agree more with Stephen than when we saw this.

I keep remembering what a teacher of mine once told me, that the peace movement didn't end the Vietnam war, it was the news media's 24/7 reporting of the event. It was Pentagon-supported body counts, watching the war on TV served up on the 6:00 news with dinner, and watching them unload dead US soldiers off airplanes at Dover air force base.

I honestly think that the media should go back to doing that, and bring our soldiers home. We've been in Iraq & Afghanistan too long, and we need to bring them home. We can't win these wars, and all we are doing now is killing soldiers.

The Perfessor

Yes, I fully understand that there are stupid, disturbed, and well, folks who simply aren't right in the head, but please, could someone explain this to me?

20 year old Lee Deitrick from Stark County, Louisville, Ohio has allegedly tattooed a one year old girl as reported by Fox8 news . The suspect, accused of putting a non-removable tattoo on the back side of the girl that only says “A” is facing a felony child endangering charge. It is to be noted that Lee Deitrick, who is not the father of the child, has previous criminal records involving arson and domestic abuse. If found guilty, the suspect could face a minimum of 5 years behind bars.

If ever I read about someone who deserved to be repeatedly bitch-slapped, it is this guy. I say we form a line.

The Perfessor

For a little bit of St. Patrick's Day fun, here's the members of League Of S.T.E.A.M. attempting to use their Ghostbuster like skills in attempting to catch a leprechaun. Slapstick humor ensues.

YouTube link

You remember that classic Superbowl commercial where the Coke driver was drinking Pepsi (or was it a Pepsi driver who drank Coke). Truly it doesn't matter (at least for this post), in that brand loyalty is de rigueur when working for a particular company, in that you should probably use their product while on site that company.

Imagine then being a tech-head working for Microsoft, and showing up to work with an Apple iPhone.

The perils of being an iPhone user at Microsoft were on display last September. At an all- company meeting in a Seattle sports stadium, one hapless employee used his iPhone to snap photos of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Mr. Ballmer snatched the iPhone out of the employee's hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of Microsoft workers, according to people present. Mr. Ballmer uses phones from different manufacturers that run on Microsoft's mobile phone software.

In fact, in a discussion about Microsoft employees using iPhones, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once told company executives that when his father worked at the Ford Motor Company, his family always drove Fords. Seems like a pretty clear stance, eh, however, Despite Mr. Ballmer's theatrics, there are apparently plenty of iPhone users operating in in plain sight at the sprawling Microsoft campus in Seattle. In fact, among the top Microsoft executives who use the iPhone is J Allard (who helped create the Xbox game console and is chief experience officer for the entertainment and devices division). Further, there are nearly 10,000 iPhone users were accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, say at least two people inside the company.

Interestingly enough, Brand loyalty over at Apple, is much stronger, because, in contrast, appear to be more devoted to the company's own mobile phone. Several people who work at the company or deal regularly with employees there say they can't recall seeing Apple workers with mobile phones other than the iPhone in recent memory. Makes you wonder, eh? (In a related item, we recall seeing a story of how Google was giving Google-powered Android phones out as year-end bonuses to their employees at the close of last year.)

Personally, I wouldn't mind what Internet-powered smart-phone that someone wanted to give me. I promise to use it and say nice things about it.

The Perfessor

So, I know that weather-geeks like Walt (probably) spent much of the weekend glued to the weather channel watching Southern CT get slammed by a wicked-serious storm on Saturday. (My in-laws drove all the way up the East Coast from Florida with it.) Well, Having spent much of the day indoors (hoping that I wouldn't ship water in my basement again), I missed quite a bit of it, but for reasons that pas understanding, we had to go out last night (after much of the high winds were over), but as we drove two towns over (in the dark), we did get to experience some of the aftermath of the event.

Well, we had to detour around a few fallen trees a few times to get where we were going (and then a few more times before we got back — at one point even calling in a 911 call to report a downed tree that had taken down a power line which was arcing and had started a small fire).

When we finally got home (to discover a dry basement), all was well (except that we had no land-line, internet, or cable; requiring me to fall asleep in front of a DVD, before getting up and going to bed). This morning I did venture out again to discover a few more fallen trees (this time in my own neighborhood). These trees included:

One in my back yard (that fell into the woods behind my house, thus causing no real damage or mess).

A second that had fallen across the street and was precariously leaning on the high-tension wire.

And a third that had fallen across a street leading to my house.

There were more, (much more), this is just what I was able to snap from my house.

Isn't the weather fun?

The Perfessor

Wait, is it Fall forward and Spring back, or drink until you don't care any longer, then throw up, and drink some more? I always get those two mixed up?

Ah, no matter, just hang in there.

The Perfessor

Read about surviving in the Arctic. When it goes dark, people get angry. Nobody survives getting wet in the Arctic. If you do, nobody believes you did.

A driver’s semi truck broke through the ice of the Artic Ocean, and he couldn’t get out in time. His truck plummeted past the snowballs of salt that form just below the surface of frozen ocean water, and he was able to draw just enough breath from the air pocket in his truck’s cab before diving out into the viscous, freezing water. The ice was already forming over the hole he’d just broken through, and he would have died if a fuel tank hadn’t broken off from his truck. He rode the fuel tank all the way to the surface, where it broke through the thin ice, and he flung his hand up over the top.

The driver behind him in the convoy had stopped well short of the hole in the ice and had already given up his buddy for dead before he saw that gloved hand rise up with the fuel tank. Negotiating the thin ice around the hole, the other driver pulled the fallen man out. A helicopter — an unusual sight, but not unheard of — just happened to be passing over. The pilot saw the incident, and landed nearby, soon flying the fallen driver to the nearest hospital within two hours. The driver was treated for hypothermia and frostbite, and released that night.

The rescued driver immediately went to the bar, where he wasted no time telling his story. A number of his listeners didn’t believe him and even took umbrage with the tale, at which point, the rescued driver became aggrieved, and a fight broke out. Less than twelve hours after he was submerged beneath the ice of the Arctic Ocean — a situation that no one in recent history had ever survived — the rescued driver was nearly beaten to death in a dingy bar. He was taken back to the same hospital he had just left, and this time, he was there for two months.

Read the whole thing
http://thefastertimes.com

The Robot Skeleton Army has a new leader.

He's being built now.

He will appear on the 5th of April.

He will be your new master.

He's only disguised as a sidekick.

YouTube link

The answer isn't in this video, but watching it does make me want to go back and try for my Eagle...

(with a tip of the hat to Eagle Scout Dylan, who brought this to our attention)

The Perfessor

There's a show on in the UK called "Bang Goes The Theory" (the name of the show a take off on an sports broadcasting meme) that commisioned the building of a car that we here at Cuppacafe can only admire and wish to one day drive -- a car that runs on coffee!

Yes, running on the same substance that fuels this blog, coffee can be used to generate hydrogen, and then that hydrogen can be used to fuel this 1988 Volkswagon Sirocco. (Note the resemblance to the famed DeLorean car from the Back To The Future movies)

The Car-Puccino, the car the runs on coffee beans

Great in theory, but in practice? Well, the car got the jitters.

From the UK's Daily Mail here's the story of how it was supposed to happen:

The car will be driven the 210 miles between Manchester and London powered only by roasted coffee granules. It has been built by a team from the BBC1 science programme Bang Goes The Theory and will go on display at the Big Bang science fair in Manchester to show how fuels other than conventional petrol and diesel can power vehicles.

The team calculates the Carpuccino will do three miles per kilo of ground coffee - the equivalent of about 56 espressos per mile.

The journey will use about 70 kilos of ground coffee which, at supermarket prices of between £13 and £26 a kilo depending on brand and quality, will cost between £910 and £1,820, or between 25 and 50 times the £36 cost of petrol for the journey.
56 espressos per mile: A member of the team Bang Goes The Theory works to convert the car

In total, the trip will use the equivalent of 11,760 espressos, and the team will have to take 'coffee breaks' roughly every 30 to 45 miles to pour in more granules.

They will also have to stop about every 60 miles to clean out the 'coffee filters' to rid them of the soot and tar which is also generated by the process.

So despite a top speed of 60mph, the many stops mean the going will be slow, with the journey taking around ten hours.

But it seems that the planned amount of coffee to be used and the time to change out the coffee filters (Yes, you read that right, they have filters to keep the nasty parts of the coffee out of the engine, but in this case it's tar from the burned coffee beans) was a bit too much to handle while on the British roadways, and so the thing kept breaking down having to wait on the side of the road to clean the coffee crap out of the system:

The 210-mile road trip had trouble from its start in London as it sputtered on its way to Manchester before breaking down outside Birmingham for two hours.

The modified 1988 Volkswagen Sirocco broke down about four times, forcing the driver - Bang Goes the Theory's Jem Stansfield - to wait on the side of the motorway while his team cleaned the engine.

The carpuccino car waits for the foam to settle a bit

Now, this isn't exactly the Mr. Fusion that we were promised by Doc Brown in Back To The Future, but using coffee grounds to power a car is rather fun -- to watch.

If a car that runs on old fryer grease smells like french fries, I would imagine driving behind this Carpuccino Car would be a bit of a slice of heaven...

You have to give Capital One credit for finding/funding this gem.

Here's about five minutes of "You're pulling my leg, aren't you?" that's a silly bit of fun.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more from the Ivan Brothers as the NCAA basketball tournament ("March Madness") develops in the next couple of weeks. (If you don't have the time or inclination to watch this, the piece ends on a bit of a sad and opened ended note, with a bit of a promise for a Part II)

YouTube link